At The Click of A Button

I broke down and did it.

My husband, the lovely man that he is, might not have fully understood my rising need, but he understands my heart and knew I needed to hear “The Click.”

That sound a camera, a “real” one, makes. 

I needed to hold the solid heft in my hands, to focus on possibilities. 

Have a moment frozen in time.

My iPhone does that, but not in the same way.

A “click” is firm, fixed, and sturdy. For me, it is a mental thing.  It brings me into the moment.  It brings me into romance and a courtship of sorts. Finding the best of something. That angle, that light, that composition – realized.

To caress a photo into life is a wonderful thing.

A photo gives recognition.

Even the mundane can be interesting. One just needs to look.

A photo can change a perspective of the world around us.  What power lies in a photo. What stories.

My photos display my story, the one I know about. Not only about me, but my surroundings at the time. Where I placed my feet.

But it also allows other viewers to develop a story of their own. They don’t need to know mine, the photo will speak to everyone differently.

A photo is many-faceted.

So far, my “new” photography is a learning curve. And there is a lot to know, a lot I have forgotten. All those settings, manual, autofocus, scenes, f-stops, RAW, video, lenses; more to remember and think about.  And to tell you the truth, I don’t know what the hell I am doing…YET.

Right now, I am not as spontaneous as I am with the iPhone – point, shoot, keep or delete. But I like challenges. This is going to be fun!

Here are a few attempts.

When I first took pictures in 1978 it was on a minuscule 110 the size of a lipstick with negatives smaller than my big thumbnail. I brought a huge number of those disposable cameras on my first trip to Europe. Three months with my mother in a tiny car we named the U-ey since she made so many U-turns, often hilarious ones that brought us on an adventure and started my wanderlust. 

After seeing what I had accomplished I broke down and bought a Pentax K1000 for the second and third European trips and beyond. It was the first of many throughout the years. All manual, I just looked for the meter to center and shot. That worked most of the time. Or it failed spectacularly. But it was sure fun!! And I got some truly wonderful photos after many months of waiting to get the film developed. Now, that was anticipation!

Always workhorses the K1000’s got banged and beat up around the world. 

It was that click that became a mantra.  That documented friendships and sunsets, safaris and train rides; and so much more! 

My camera sometimes knew more about me than I did myself. I would find out secrets once the film was developed, my life revealed. I could look without seeing. Then I could be surprised at what surfaced.

(Some photos from way back when with the Pentax. Click Here for more of my travel gallery. And Here for my bio)

I once had visions of being a professional. National Geographic didn’t come calling and although I tried once to capture their eye, nothing came of it. 

I was a closet cover wish. 

I just remembered, however, that I have had a photo published. It is a convoluted story of how this happened, but, the photo is in a great coffee table book called Steps and Stairways by Cleo Baldon. And Maryknoll Magazine bought several of my Black and White’s.

I gave up photography when I got sick and felt there was nothing of value to document and display. 

The camera and lenses were scratched by then and stuck in the back of closets, later, too bulky to drag along to shelters. Reminders of what had been, once upon a time.

But life changes. I changed. I did the work and believe in possibilities again. Glenn, my stalwart sentinel watched over me, didn’t quit when things were so difficult, and together we have created a lovely and exciting life. 

A life we want to share. To document. To capture memories of. To tell stories.

So, I bought a camera. A Canon Rebel DSLR t8i; and lenses. 

I bought that click! 

The button is hungry, it waits, I will feed it.